The Assam government told the Supreme Court on Thursday that Congress leader Pawan Khera used forged documents to claim that Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife holds multiple passports. Even as the court reserved its ruling on Khera’s anticipatory bail plea, the state said Khera should face custodial interrogation to clarify whether he had forged documents or obtained them from others, and whether any “foreign hand” was involved in trying to disrupt the state assembly elections.
While appearing before Assam, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and Atul Chandorkar that Khaira claimed in a press conference that Sarma’s wife holds passports of three countries and is showing their photographs. Mehta said that the investigation has so far shown that these images are fake. He added that Khaira showed forged documents related to a company registered in the United States.
Mehta told the court that the state police needed custodial interrogation to trace the source of the documents. He said they must establish who did the fakery, how they changed photos, names and QR codes, and whether any actors outside India played a role.
“This is not just a case of defamation, but involves a serious crime with wider national implications [Khera] Mehta will have to explain who forged documents to him and whether a foreign hand was involved in disturbing our local elections,” he said, opposing Khera’s plea challenging the April 24 Gauhati High Court order denying him anticipatory bail in a case filed on a complaint by Sarma’s wife.
Mehta said Khaira had evaded the investigation and said his public statements, including videos about avoiding Assam Police, showed he was refusing to cooperate with the investigation.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who represented Khaira, said the case did not justify the arrest. He said Sarma was targeting Khair out of political rivalry and that the Prime Minister’s public comments against him showed “malice” and “concern”.
Singhvi said investigators can question Khaira without arresting him. He said that Khaira did not pose any flight risk and that his interrogation in custody was unnecessary.
